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INDEPTH: TORONTO BOMB PLOT

INDEPTH: TORONTO BOMB PLOT

Overview
CBC News Online | August 4, 2006 In the largest operation ever carried out under Canada’s Anti-terrorism Act, more than 400 police officers conducted a series of raids in southern Ontario on June 2-3, 2006, and arrested 17 suspects.

Search warrants were executed on homes in Mississauga, Toronto and Pickering. Most of the suspects were taken under heavy guard to be processed at a police station in Pickering, east of Toronto. Police officers carrying automatic weapons ringed the building. Snipers were perched on nearby rooftops. It was a show of force rarely seen on Canadian soil.

The 12 men and five youths were accused of knowingly participating in a terrorist group and either receiving or providing terrorist training. Police allege the suspects were inspired by al-Qaeda and planned to make bombs to attack targets in Ontario. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
 
As many as 400 police officers and security officials were involved in the operation. Officials revealed very few details of what was going on as it was going on — except that people were being arrested under the provisions of the Anti-terrorism Act.

It wasn’t until the next morning — when the RCMP held a news conference in Mississauga, Ont. — that police would reveal some of the details. Placed on a table for the reporters to see was some of the evidence police say they seized. Among the items were bags of ammonium nitrate — intended as a harmless fertilizer but a deadly explosive when mixed with certain ingredients.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell said the suspects had ordered and received three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. He said it was three times the amount that Timothy McVeigh used to bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. That blast killed 168 people.
“This group posed a real and serious threat,” McDonell said. “It had the capacity and intent to carry out attacks. Our investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of any bombs and the attacks being carried out.”

McDonell said the raids had thwarted a plot to blow up targets in southern Ontario. Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said he was aware of the targets but would not reveal them, except that Toronto’s transit system had not been singled out.

Two months after the initial sweep, an 18th suspect, Ibrahim Alkhalel Mohammed Aboud, 19, of Mississauga, Ont., was arrested in the alleged plot.

‘Home-grown terrorism’

“We are a target because of who we are and how we live, our society, our diversity and our values,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

“Their alleged target was Canada: Canadian institutions, the Canadian economy, the Canadian people.”

All of the suspects were either born in Canada or were long-time residents. Luc Portelance, the assistant director of operations for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) called it a case of “home-grown terrorism.”

“For various reasons, they appear to have become adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda,” Portelance told reporters.

On Nov. 13, 2002, Canada was named as a potential target for attacks in an audiotape attributed to Osama bin Laden. Security officials had been warning since then that it was a matter of “when” and not “if” Canada would be attacked.

On May 29, days before the arrests, the deputy director of CSIS, Jack Hooper appeared before the Senate defence committee, where he addressed the possibility of “home-grown terrorists” in Canada.

“We know who and where some of them are,” he told the committee.

Canada’s Anti-terrorism Act became law on Dec. 18, 2001. It gave police sweeping new powers, including the power to arrest people and hold them without charge for up to 72 hours if they’re suspected of planning a terrorist act. It also made it easier for police to use electronic surveillance in their investigation of suspects.

Police said this investigation has been underway for a couple of years. Two of the suspects were already in jail, accused of trying to smuggle weapons into Canada from the United States in November 2005. It’s believed that the investigation began as security officials monitored traffic to extremist-related websites.

The arrests of the 17 suspects marked the second time that the Anti-terrorism Act was used for that purpose.

The first involved Ottawa software developer Mohammad Momin Khawaja, who was arrested in March 2004, accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group and facilitating a terrorist activity. He was also named — but not charged — in Britain for playing a role in a foiled bomb plot. He is being held in an Ottawa detention centre, awaiting trial.

Mixed reviews in the U.S.

In the United States, reaction to news of the alleged plot drew mixed responses. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the arrests showed Canada is doing its part in the “war on terrorism.”

“This shows that the Canadians are on the job. That’s what it really shows.”

But New York Republican Peter King, the chairman of the House of Representatives homeland security committee, said the case shows it’s easy for extremists to operate in Canada.

“I think it’s a disproportionate number of al-Qaeda in Canada because of their very liberal immigration laws, because of how political asylum is granted so easily.”

Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, sought to reassure the Americans.

“Canada is just as diligent and successful in fighting terrorists as the Americans,” he said. Soon after the arrests, Wilson organized a Washington visit for top Canadian security officials, so they could brief their American counterparts on how they are staying on top of militant activity north of the border.

INDEPTH: TORONTO BOMB PLOT
Prosecuting ‘terror’ charges
Fair trial?

CBC News Online | June 7, 2006

It didn’t take long after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States for the Canadian government to come up with its Anti-Terrorism Act. Within four months, Ottawa passed legislation that amended the Criminal Code of Canada to include a section that defined “terrorist” offences.

The Anti-Terrorism Act also gave police extraordinary powers to help them in their investigation of suspected “terrorist” activity. Among those powers were preventive arrests and fewer restrictions on the use of electronic surveillance.

Before the arrest of 17 people in an alleged plot to bomb targets in Toronto and Ottawa, only one other person had been charged under the anti-terrorist provisions of the Criminal Code. Mohammad Momin Khawaja was arrested March 29, 2004, accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group and facilitating a terrorist activity. He’s not scheduled to go to trial until January 2007. His lawyers say they still haven’t seen the evidence against their client.

The anti-terrorist provisions of the code remain untested in court.

As they emerged from a Brampton, Ont., courthouse on June 6, 2006, lawyers for several of the accused said they felt their clients would receive a fair trail – but they did have concerns about the atmosphere and the process.

PM’s comments ’surprising, shocking’

Gary Batasar, lawyer for Steven Vikash Chand, was worried that Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his delight over the arrests as news of the alleged plot spread.

“The comments made by the prime minister himself with respect to his happiness that these persons had been arrested certainly is surprising and shocking,” Batasar told reporters. “I believe the prime minister should keep out of the process and let justice take its course.”

Batasar added that it appears the authorities wanted to instil a sense of fear in the public.

That sentiment was echoed by prominent defence attorney Steven Skurka.

“There really is this incredible climate of fear that surrounds this case that’s only going to increase,” Skurka told CBC News. “The notion that these men are going to have a trial in the equivalent of an armed fortress really speaks against the likelihood of the presumption of innocence operating at the trial.”

Skurka predicts the same conditions will make it difficult to try these cases by jury. No one, he suggests, would want to sit on a jury in a trial that would be subject to intense security and scrutiny.

National security access a problem

Louise Botham, head of the Criminal Lawyers Association of Ontario, says – despite the pre-trial publicity – the accused should be confident about receiving a fair trial.

“We saw Air India, that was a very high-profile case, [Paul] Bernardo was a high-profile case. I think we have to have some trust that our judges are able to disassociate themselves from the publicity,” Botham told CBC News. “But even so, when you’re just seeing so much material about the accused and prosecution theories in the press… it’s a concern and you want to be vigilant.”

Another challenge defence lawyers may face is getting access to some of the evidence, if some of it is deemed to be critical to national security.

“It is a challenge…and there sometimes are restrictions on what you’re able to share with your client if in fact you want access to what’s considered to be quite classified or quite confidential, and it changes the dynamics of the case.”

Still, she adds, concerns about protecting witnesses have arisen in other cases – and they have been worked out.

“Ultimately if there’s a problem,” Botham adds, “we can go to the judge and get adjudication of the issue.”

Accused ‘perturbed’ by allegations

Some of the details of the allegations against the suspects began to emerge as 15 of them made a June 6 court appearance. The allegations include a plan to storm the Parliament Buildings, take politicians hostage and threaten to execute them unless the government pulled Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

Batasar said his client was also accused of wanting to personally behead the prime minister.

“We’re anxious to get this matter moving along,” he told reporters. “Mr. Chand is quite perturbed by these allegations.”

According to court documents, there was also a plan to storm the CBC’s broadcasting centre in Toronto and take it over.

Irwin Cotler, justice critic for the federal Liberals, says despite the high-profile prosecution, the basic tenet of the Canadian justice system remains at the forefront.

“The suspects now before the court enjoy that presumption of innocence and the Crown will have to prove its case - to use that proverbial adage - beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Agencies involved in the operation
CBC News Online | June 5, 2006

Saturday, June 3, 2006.

Mississauga, Ont.

The RCMP hold a 10 a.m. news conference to release some of the details of a series of raids that were carried out in the Toronto region the previous evening. All the media had been told to that point was that several people had been arrested under Canada’s anti-terrorism act, accused of plotting to blow up a target or targets in southern Ontario.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell tells dozens of journalists that the investigation that led to the arrests involved more than 400 police and security experts and involved thousands of hours of work.

Among the agencies he lists that were involved in the investigation and raids are:

  • The RCMP, Canada’s national police force.
  • Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada’s civilian spy agency.
  • Toronto Police Services, Toronto’s municipal police force.
  • Peel Region Police, which provides police services for cities west of Toronto including Mississauga and Brampton.
  • Durham Region Police, which provides police services for cities east of Toronto including Pickering and Oshawa.
  • Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), which consists of members of the RCMP, CSIS, Canada Border Services Agency, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Toronto, Peel and Durham police services.

INSET was created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. In April 2002, the federal government set aside $64 million over a five-year period to set up INSETs in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

The government decided that counter-terrorism efforts require an integrated approach to improve chances of detecting plots early and preventing threats to national security.

The RCMP’s National Security Intelligence Sections was refocused and became INSET. In theory, by combining resources, these teams would:

  • Increase their collective capacity for the collection, sharing and analysis of intelligence among partners.
  • Create an enhanced investigative capacity to bring targets that are a threat to national security to justice.
  • Enhance the collective ability of partner agencies to combat national security threats.

INSETs are made up of representatives of the RCMP, federal partners and agencies such as Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and provincial and municipal police forces.

The INSETs were designed to help the RCMP work more closely with its national and international partners in the collection and sharing of vital intelligence.

Profiles of the suspects
CBC News Online | October 10, 2007

Shareef Abdelhaleen (John Mantha/CBC)

Shareef Abdelhaleen | Mississauga, Ont.
Age: 30

Computer programmer. Emigrated from Egypt 20 years ago with his father who is an engineer with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion that is likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or serious damage to property.

Bail status: Denied the first time. However, on Sept. 24, 2007, federal prosecutors move to stop the suspects’ preliminary hearing and go straight to trial. Charges are stayed and re-issued, and bail hearings will be held for each defendant again.

Ibrahim Aikhalel Mohammed Aboud
Born: unknown dateCharges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.

Bail status: Granted the first time, still out on bail.

Fahim Ahmad (John Mantha/CBC)

Fahim Ahmad | Toronto (Scarborough)
Born: Aug. 10, 1984

Attended Mississauga’s Meadowvale Secondary School with two other suspects.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Importing a firearm and prohibited ammunition for the benefit of a terrorist group.
  • Providing guns and ammunition intending that they be used to carry out terrorist activity.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Providing training for a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion (listed twice in the indictment, once by himself).
  • Knowingly instructing any person to carry out any activity for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Bail status: denied the first time.

Zakaria Amara (John Mantha/CBC)

Zakaria Amara | Mississauga, Ont.
Born: Aug. 18, 1985

Lived in a multi-generational household in Mississauga. Attended Mississauga’s Meadowvale Secondary School with two other suspects, where he was known as “Zak.”

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Providing training for a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion of an explosive substance that was likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or serious damage to property.
  • Knowingly instructing any person to carry out any activity for the benefit of, at the direction or, or in association with a terrorist group.

Bail status: denied the first time.

Asad Ansari (John Mantha/CBC)

Asad Ansari | Mississauga, Ont.
Born: March 8, 1985

Lived with a family of four or five people in Mississauga.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion that is likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or serious damage to property.

Bail status: denied the first time.

Steven Vikash Chand (John Mantha/CBC)

Steven Vikash Chand | Toronto (Scarborough)
Born: March 2, 1981

Recently converted to Islam and started using the name Abdul Shakur. Lived in a basement apartment. Was reportedly a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada, a reserve unit, from June 2000 until April 2004. Attended Salaheddin Islamic Centre two or three times a week, a member of the mosque said. Distributed material about Islam at local public schools.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Providing training with a terrorist group.
  • Counselling to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Bail status: Denied the first time, now awaiting judge’s ruling.

Mohammed Dirie (John Mantha/CBC)

Mohammed Dirie | Kingston, Ont.
Born: Aug. 10, 1983

Landed immigrant in the process of becoming a Canadian citizen. Came to Canada from Somalia at the age of seven. Worked as a carpenter and took courses toward a college diploma. Serving a two-year sentence in Kingston’s Collins Bay Correctional Institute for attempting to smuggle guns and ammunition from the U.S. in August, 2005.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Importing firearms for the benefit of a terrorist group.

Bail status: not applied (in jail on weapons smuggling charge).

Amin Mohamed Durrani (John Mantha/CBC)

Amin Mohamed Durrani | Toronto (Scarborough)
Born: June 17, 1986

Family members said Durrani would disappear for weeks at a time with no explanation.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Providing training for a terrorist group.

Bail status: denied the first time.

Saad Gaya
Born: Nov. 17, 1987Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion that is likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or serious damage to property.

Bail status: denied.

Ahmad Mustafa Ghany (John Mantha/CBC)

Ahmad Mustafa Ghany | Mississauga, Ont.
Born: Sept. 27, 1984

Graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton with a degree in health sciences. His father immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago over 40 years ago.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.

Bail status: granted the first time, still out on bail.

Qayyum Abdul Jamal (John Mantha/CBC)

Qayyum Abdul Jamal | Mississauga, Ont.
Born: April 1, 1963

The oldest of the suspects. A school bus driver and father of four boys.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.

Bail status: denied the first time, hearing coming up in mid-October.

Jahmaal James | Toronto (Scarborough)
Born: April 17, 1983Regularly prayed at the Salaheddin Islamic Centre. Distributed material about Islam at local public schools. Recently married a woman in Pakistan. Unemployed at the time of his arrest.Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group
  • Receiving terrorist training in Pakistan

Bail status: denied the first time.

Saad Khalid (John Mantha/CBC)

Saad Khalid | Mississauga, Ont.
Born: Aug. 12, 1986

Attended Mississauga’s Meadowvale Secondary School with two other suspects, where he created the Religious Awareness Club and would preach Islam in the school’s drama room.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.
  • Doing anything with intent to cause an explosion that is likely to cause serious bodily harm or death or serious damage to property.

Yasim Abdi Mohamed (John Mantha/CBC)

Yasim Abdi Mohamed | Kingston, Ont.
Born: Nov. 6, 1981

Born in Somalia. Immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of seven. Lived in Cambridge, Ont., before moving to Toronto five years ago. Serving a two-year sentence in Kingston’s Joyceville Correctional Institute for attempting to smuggle guns and ammunition from the U.S. in August 2005.

Charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Importing firearms for benefit of a terrorist group.
Four other suspects are under the age of 18 and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. They all face these charges:

  • Knowingly participating in or contributing to activity of a terrorist group.
  • Receiving training with a terrorist group.

The Toronto Star said some of them attended the same Scarborough high school and allegedly knew Amin Mohamed Durrani, one of the adult suspects.

Homegrown extremism
CBC News Online | July 14, 2006
Sunday, June 4, 2006.

People arriving at a Toronto mosque discover that the building has been vandalized overnight. Several windows have been smashed and the front door is broken.

Hamid Slimi, who leads the International Muslims Organization of Toronto mosque, says it’s a “logical assumption” to link the vandalism and the news of the arrests of 17 people under Canada’s Anti-terrorism Act.

No one was hurt, nothing inside was damaged and there was no looting or spray-painting, he said. But Slimi said the vandalism came as a shock at the mosque, which is in the northwest Rexdale neighbourhood and has as many as 20,000 members.

When police announced details of the arrests at a news conference a day earlier, they made it clear that they were investigating individuals — and not a community.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell, right, speaks as CSIS Assistant Director of Operations Luc Portelance looks on during a press conference in Toronto on June 3, 2006. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

“It is important to know that this operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethnocultural group in Canada,” Luc Portelance of CSIS said. “Terrorism is a dangerous ideology, and a global phenomenon. As yesterday’s arrests demonstrate, Canada is not immune from this ideology.”

Hours after the vandalism was discovered, Toronto police Chief Bill Blair met with representatives of the Muslim community.

“There are always uninformed ignorant idiots who will go out and try to express some anger and misdirect it against totally innocent people, and any anger directed at the wider Muslim community in Toronto would be totally misdirected and based on ignorance,” he told the gathering.

Among those in attendance was Husain Patel of the Canadian Council of Muslim Theologians. He said: “The accused are innocent until proven guilty but if they are proven guilty after given due process, then this is a wake-up call, especially for Muslim leaders.”

Most of the accused are Canadian citizens. Those who aren’t, have lived in the country for a long time.

Days before the raids, Jack Hooper, the deputy director of CSIS, told a Senate committee that Canada has homegrown extremists. “We know who and where some of them are.”

Raheel Raza

It comes as no surprise to Raheel Raza, author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad. She says a warped ideology of hate that has nothing to do with Islam, has erupted in many parts of the West.

“It had been happening here in Canada to the extent that hate was being spouted through places of worship and by people who make it their day job to incite young people in this hatred. Towards what they perceive to be the imperial powers, the western occupation of parts of the world.”

Raza says parents are the first line of defence when it comes to making sure their children aren’t susceptible to an imported hatred of Canadian values.

“We should be desperately concerned [about domestic extremism],” David Harris, former chief of strategic planning for CSIS, told CBC News. “We’ve seen a trend in the western world especially of young folk who have citizenship or long-time residency, you would have thought they would have grown up with the liberal, democratic pluralist values of our charter system. Yet, again, as we saw in Britain, there are large questions about whether there isn’t a radicalism growing deep within Canada.”

Harris says with Canada absorbing more than 200,000 immigrants and thousands more refugee claimants every year, it’s difficult to ensure we are weeding out extremists.

“When we bring people in large numbers, if there should be strains of radicalism within those numbers, those groups can become self-isolating and cut themselves off from the general population, and therefore not be exposed to the more progressive ideas that we are used to.”

These groups then can become a magnet for disaffected youth. Jordan Bernt, a University of Toronto sociology professor, notes that most of the suspects are in their teens or early 20s.

“Young men are particularly status hungry, and belonging to a political movement — especially one that’s on a mission — is one way of obtaining group identity and also of knowing where you are and what you’re doing.”

Hussein Hamdani is with the Ihya Foundation in Toronto, a grassroots organization that tries to promote a better understanding of Islam. Part of his mission is to work with young people, so they don’t become radicalized.

“For many of them, they think that Canada, their own country, has declared war on them or their people,” Hamdani told CBC News. “And they think that Canada has aligned itself too closely with the United States and U.S. foreign policy, and that the war on terrorism is a war against Islam.

“And many of them have these grievances and they don’t know how to express them in a non-violent way.”

Hamdani is suggesting a three-pronged effort:

  • A review of Canadian laws and policies to make sure they don’t affect one community more than another.
  • Greater support for Muslims who are trying to ensure that there is zero tolerance within the Muslim community for any hate language or anything that could be considered anti-social behaviour.
  • Encourage all Canadians to get to know one another a bit better.

It’s easy to demonize someone you don’t know, but it’s much harder to do so when you get to know them,” Hamdani said. He adds that he’s encouraged that in this case, the RCMP received some of its information from people from within the Muslim community.

Mubin Shaikh

One of those people was 29-year-old Mubin Shaikh, a prominent member of Toronto’s Indo-Canadian Muslim community. He describes himself as an “observant Muslim” and was born in Canada to immigrant parents. In July 2006, he told CBC’s The Fifth Estate he worked as a paid informant for CSIS for more than two years, spending much of that time with the suspects in the alleged bomb plot.

The former army cadet and Canadian Armed Forces reservist described them as “fruitcakes … with the capacity to do some real damage.”

Shaikh said he heard about their alleged plans and became a CSIS informer because he was concerned about the potential impact on all Canadians, especially on the country’s Muslim community. After consulting the Qur’an and senior Muslim religious leaders, he went undercover. “God says in the Qur’an that we must value one life,” he said. “I was guided, I had my licence.”

Khalid Baksh

Khalid Baksh, a member of the Muslim Lawyers Association, concedes there may be some fear within the Muslim community that it will become “the target for some intolerant people out there in our greater community.”

But, he says, intolerance won’t last.

“Every time something like this happens, in fact, what we see is that there’s a greater understanding about Islam. Because people want to know more about the religion, want to know more about who we are.”

Prosecuting ‘terror’ charges
Fair trial?
CBC News Online | June 7, 2006

It didn’t take long after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States for the Canadian government to come up with its Anti-Terrorism Act. Within four months, Ottawa passed legislation that amended the Criminal Code of Canada to include a section that defined “terrorist” offences.

The Anti-Terrorism Act also gave police extraordinary powers to help them in their investigation of suspected “terrorist” activity. Among those powers were preventive arrests and fewer restrictions on the use of electronic surveillance.

Mohammad Momin Khawaja was the first man charged under the Anti-terrorism Act.

Before the arrest of 17 people in an alleged plot to bomb targets in Toronto and Ottawa, only one other person had been charged under the anti-terrorist provisions of the Criminal Code. Mohammad Momin Khawaja was arrested March 29, 2004, accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist group and facilitating a terrorist activity. He’s not scheduled to go to trial until January 2007. His lawyers say they still haven’t seen the evidence against their client.

The anti-terrorist provisions of the code remain untested in court.

As they emerged from a Brampton, Ont., courthouse on June 6, 2006, lawyers for several of the accused said they felt their clients would receive a fair trail – but they did have concerns about the atmosphere and the process.

PM’s comments ’surprising, shocking’

Gary Batasar, lawyer for Steven Vikash Chand, was worried that Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his delight over the arrests as news of the alleged plot spread.

“The comments made by the prime minister himself with respect to his happiness that these persons had been arrested certainly is surprising and shocking,” Batasar told reporters. “I believe the prime minister should keep out of the process and let justice take its course.”

Batasar added that it appears the authorities wanted to instil a sense of fear in the public.

That sentiment was echoed by prominent defence attorney Steven Skurka.

“There really is this incredible climate of fear that surrounds this case that’s only going to increase,” Skurka told CBC News. “The notion that these men are going to have a trial in the equivalent of an armed fortress really speaks against the likelihood of the presumption of innocence operating at the trial.”

Skurka predicts the same conditions will make it difficult to try these cases by jury. No one, he suggests, would want to sit on a jury in a trial that would be subject to intense security and scrutiny.

National security access a problem

Louise Botham, head of the Criminal Lawyers Association of Ontario, says – despite the pre-trial publicity – the accused should be confident about receiving a fair trial.

“We saw Air India, that was a very high-profile case, [Paul] Bernardo was a high-profile case. I think we have to have some trust that our judges are able to disassociate themselves from the publicity,” Botham told CBC News. “But even so, when you’re just seeing so much material about the accused and prosecution theories in the press… it’s a concern and you want to be vigilant.”

Another challenge defence lawyers may face is getting access to some of the evidence, if some of it is deemed to be critical to national security.

“It is a challenge…and there sometimes are restrictions on what you’re able to share with your client if in fact you want access to what’s considered to be quite classified or quite confidential, and it changes the dynamics of the case.”

Still, she adds, concerns about protecting witnesses have arisen in other cases – and they have been worked out.

“Ultimately if there’s a problem,” Botham adds, “we can go to the judge and get adjudication of the issue.”

Accused ‘perturbed’ by allegations

Some of the details of the allegations against the suspects began to emerge as 15 of them made a June 6 court appearance. The allegations include a plan to storm the Parliament Buildings, take politicians hostage and threaten to execute them unless the government pulled Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

Batasar said his client was also accused of wanting to personally behead the prime minister.

“We’re anxious to get this matter moving along,” he told reporters. “Mr. Chand is quite perturbed by these allegations.”

According to court documents, there was also a plan to storm the CBC’s broadcasting centre in Toronto and take it over.

Irwin Cotler, justice critic for the federal Liberals, says despite the high-profile prosecution, the basic tenet of the Canadian justice system remains at the forefront.

“The suspects now before the court enjoy that presumption of innocence and the Crown will have to prove its case - to use that proverbial adage - beyond a reasonable doubt.”


Ammonium nitrate
CBC News Online | June 5, 2006
The RCMP allege the bomb plot suspects ordered and received three tonnes of ammonium nitrate. RCMP officers intercepted the group’s order for the powdered fertilizer and, according to the Toronto Star, switched it with a harmless powder before making the delivery by truck.

The compound is used in fertilizers because of its high nitrogen content. On its own, ammonium nitrate is benign, but when mixed with certain hydrocarbons, such as fuel oil, it can become a powerful explosive. Such a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil is commonly called ANFO.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Mike McDonell noted that the amount of ammonium nitrate seized in the series of June raids could have caused significant damage. It was three times as much as the amount used in the bombing of a U.S. government building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.

ANFO has been widely used for blasting in quarries and mines since the 1930s as a safer alternative to dynamite. As a commercial explosive it is usually a mixture of ammonium nitrate and diesel oil in a 94:6 ratio by weight and is usually coloured with red dye.

ANFO can also be made using ammonium nitrate fertilizer and some other fuel oil, such as kerosene or, as was the case in Oklahoma City, nitromethane, a fuel used in drag racing. ANFO has been used in attacks by such extremists as the Provisional IRA in Ireland and the revolutionary group known as FARC in Colombia.

There have been several other major incidents involving ammonium nitrate. Among them, an accidental explosion at a warehouse in the French city of Toulouse in 2001 killed 31 people and injured 2,400. It also left a crater 10 metres deep. In 2004, a freight train loaded with ammonium nitrate exploded in North Korea. The blast destroyed a small town, killed 161 people and injured more than 3,000.

In 1947, a fire broke out in the hold of a cargo ship in Texas City, Texas. The ship was carrying 2,600 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. An hour later, the ship exploded, killing several hundred people. The blast started a fire in another ship 250 metres away. It was carrying sulfur and ammonium nitrate. The next day it, too, exploded.

Agricultural grade ammonium nitrate is no longer produced in this country, although some is still imported for use in eastern Canada. It is not currently a controlled substance, although federal limitations under the Explosives Act are being considered. It has also been used as an oxidizer in some solid fuel rockets and to help deploy airbags in cars. Other uses include as a heat absorber in instant cold packs. Ammonium nitrate, mixed with zinc and ammonium chloride, can be found in survival kits because it will ignite on contact with water.

Quotes: What they said
CBC News Online | July 14, 2006

Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner, RCMP:
“This group posed a real and serious threat. It had the capacity and intent to carry out attacks. Our investigation and arrests prevented the assembly of any bombs and the attacks being carried out.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper:
“This morning, Canadians awoke to the news that our law enforcement and national security agencies have arrested 17 individuals for terrorism-related offences. These individuals were allegedly intent on committing acts of terrorism against their own country and their own people.”As we have said on many occasions, Canada is not immune to the threat of terrorism. Through the work and co-operation of the RCMP, CSIS, local law enforcement and Toronto’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), acts of violence by extremist groups may have been prevented.”Today, Canada’s security and intelligence measures worked. Canada’s new government will pursue its efforts to ensure the national security of all Canadians.”

Luc Portelance, CSIS:
“It is important to know that this operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethno-cultural group in Canada. Terrorism is a dangerous ideology, and a global phenomenon. As yesterday’s arrests demonstrate, Canada is not immune from this ideology.”

Toronto Mayor David Miller:
“These arrests show the process is working. It’s like a bank robbery. If you know a group of people is going to rob a bank, you arrest them before they’re in the bank. That’s what CSIS and the RCMP did.”

Bill Blair, Toronto police chief:
“I am very content that the apprehension of these individuals has neutralized the threat.”

Jack Hooper, deputy director of CSIS (On May 29, 2006, before the Senate defence committee, on the possibility of “home-grown terrorists” in Canada):
“We know who and where some of them are.”

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day
“Obviously, anybody who’s collecting three tons of ammonium nitrate isn’t doing it for purposes of fertilizing their gardens. There was very serious intent here.”

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
“This shows that the Canadians are on the job. That’s what it really shows.”

New York Republican Peter King, chairman of the House of Representatives homeland security committee.
“I think it’s a disproportionate number of al-Qaeda in Canada because of their very liberal immigration laws, because of how political asylum is granted so easily.”

Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the United States
“I disagree with what the chairman has said.”

Hussein Hamdani — of the Ihya Foundation in Toronto, a grassroots organization that tries to promote a better understanding of Islam — on people who commit violence in the name of religion.
“These are just criminals who usurp a religion.”

Husain Patel, the Canadian Council of Muslim Theologians
“The accused are innocent until proven guilty, but if they are proven guilty after given due process then this is a wakeup call, especially for Muslim leaders.”

Toronto police chief Bill Blair
“There are always uninformed, ignorant idiots who will go out and try to express some anger and misdirect it against totally innocent people, and any anger directed at the wider Muslim community in Toronto would be totally misdirected and based on ignorance.”

David Harris, former chief of strategic planning with CSIS
“We should be desperately concerned. We’ve seen a trend in the western world … of, especially, young folk who have citizenship, or long time residents, you would have thought they would have grown up with … the liberal, democratic pluralist values … of our charter system …. There are large questions about whether there isn’t a radicalism growing deep within Canada.”

Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S.
“Canada is just as diligent and successful in fighting terrorists as the Americans.”

Sheik Hussein Patel, representing the Canadian Council of Muslim Theologians, a group of more than 100 scholars.
“Any threat to Canada poses a threat to Muslims in Canada as well.”

Cpl. Bryan Trochim, Canadian soldier stationed in Afghanistan, told Canadian Press.
“It does kind of bring home the point a little bit more that these guys are in your backyard. Every time you think about anything that’s happening anywhere around the globe, it could easily be your home any day.”

Muhammad Alam, president of the Islamic Foundation of Toronto.
“Canadian Muslims absolutely condemn an act of violence or threat of violence.”

Mike McDonell, assistant commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told CBC Radio on Monday.
“There is a chance we could be arresting more people. We are following up every lead to the nth degree, and any person that has aided, facilitated or participated in this threat will be arrested.”

Mubin Shaikh, a prominent member of Toronto’s Indo-Canadian Muslim community who spent more than two years as a paid informant for CSIS in the bomb plot investigation, much of the time with the alleged suspects.
He described the suspects as “fruitcakes … with the capacity to do some real damage.”

INDEPTH: TORONTO BOMB PLOT

Investigation timeline
CBC News Online | June 6, 2006

The investigation that led to the arrest of 17 people on terrorism charges in early June 2006 began as far back as the fall of 2004. An internet chat room drew the attention of agents with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which passed its information along to the RCMP.

Fall 2004
CSIS agents notice an internet chat room where young men allegedly exchange anti-Western views and links to radical Islamist websites, police say.

Nov. 17, 2004
CSIS calls the RCMP to start a criminal investigation into the people involved in the chat room.

March 2005
Two men from Atlanta — who earlier joined the chat room — make a bus trip to Toronto. Police say the men are linked to extremist groups in the U.S. and Europe. U.S. court documents say the men went to Toronto to meet with “like-minded Islamists.”

August 2005
Agents with the Canadian Border Services Agency stop a car that is returning to Canada from the U.S. over the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie.

One of the men in the car, Yasin Abdi Mohamed, is found with a loaded pistol tucked in his waistband. The other, Mohammed Dirie, has two handguns taped to his inner thighs.

Both men would later plead guilty to weapons charges and get sentenced to two years in prison. Both would also later be charged in the alleged bomb plot.

According to a Toronto Star report, the car they were driving was flagged because it was allegedly rented by Fahim Ahmad, another man later arrested in the alleged bomb plot.

Winter 2005
Sometime between Nov. 29 and Dec. 31, 2005, nine of the suspects, police allege, travel to a wooded area north of Toronto where they wear winter camouflage, practise firing guns and make a video in which they imitate warfare.

January 2006
Toronto Mayor David Miller is briefed on the ongoing investigation.

February 2006
Investigators call a meeting with the chiefs of Ontario’s police forces to share details of the alleged plot.

Late May-early June 2006
Members of the group allegedly start making inquiries to buy three tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a widely available fertilizer that can be made into an explosive by adding fuel oil. The Toronto Star would later report that police intercepted the shipment of ammonium nitrate, replacing it with a harmless powder.

June 2, 2006
More than a dozen teams of police officers — as many as 400 police and security officials — raid homes in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., and arrest 10 men and five youths. Two other suspects are already incarcerated in Kingston.
Timeline of recent events
CBC News Online | October 10, 2007

A timeline of events following the arrest of 17 people on charges laid under the Anti-terrorism Act.

Sept. 24, 2007 Federal prosecutors take the unusual step to stop the suspects’ preliminary hearing and go straight to trial. This is an option available to the deputy attorney general or attorney general under exceptional circumstances. Charges are stayed against the accused, then charges are re-issued. Five defendants now face additional charges, and three have one charge dropped apiece.

Jan. 16, 2007
A preliminary hearing begins in Brampton, Ont., for four youths, all under 18, accused of belonging to a group allegedly involved in the bomb plot. The preliminary hearing is subject to a publication ban and the evidence cannot be reported. Three of the four suspects are out on bail, while the fourth remains in custody.

Oct. 13, 2006
The existence of a second police mole in the investigation is revealed. The man, an agricultural engineer in his 20s, is from a wealthy family of Egyptian descent. His expertise could have allowed conspirators to gain access to large amounts of fertilizer that could be used in bombs. He reportedly volunteered to help police because he feared that a successful attack would have been a catastrophe for the Canadian Muslim community. The man is under police protection pending the trial. His identity is being withheld to protect his family.

Sept. 19, 2006
Zakaria Amara, 21, is denied bail for reason that can’t be revealed because of a publication ban.

Aug. 15, 2006
A Brampton, Ont., justice of the peace denies bail to one of the people charged in the case, 20-year-old Amin Durrani.

Aug. 8, 2006
A fourth person charged in the alleged bomb plot is granted bail. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is released on $137,000 bail. His bail conditions dictate that he cannot leave the province and must surrender all his travel documents. He also must stay in his parents’ house at all times unless accompanied by one of his six sureties. And, his outside communication is limited to the phone, but only to speak with his sureties, authorities or his lawyers.

Aug. 3, 2006
Police arrest Ibrahim Alkhalel Mohammed Aboud, 19, at his home in Mississauga, Ont., in connection with the alleged bomb plot. Aboud’s arrest is the first in connection with the case since the sweep in early June.

A justice of the peace denies bail to Asad Ansari, 21, for reasons that cannot be released because of a publication ban. Ansari’s lawyer says his client plans to seek a second bail hearing before a judge.

July 24, 2006
An Ontario judge grants bail to the youngest of 17 suspects, a 16-year-old who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The decision overturns the ruling of a justice of the peace, who denied bail to the teen June 27. His bail conditions stipulate that he must live with his parents, cannot communicate with his alleged co-conspirators and must report to police. A $15,000 surety is put up by his parents.

July 20, 2006
Ahmad Ghany, 21, is released after posting bail of $140,000. Ghany’s lawyer and the Crown came to an agreement on house arrest before the bail hearing, but the details of that agreement cannot be revealed because of a publication ban.

Under the conditions of his bail, Ghany must live with his parents, report to police weekly, cannot communicate with his co-accused and may only leave his parents’ house unaccompanied to attend work, school, court, a hospital or his lawyer’s office.

July 17, 2006
One of the 17 bomb-plot suspects, Saad Khalid of Mississauga, Ont., is denied bail. He was charged in June 2006 with participating in a terrorist group, receiving training with a terrorist group, and intent to cause an explosion likely to harm people or damage property.

July 14, 2006
A teen facing terrorism-related charges is granted bail, making him the first of 17 suspects implicated in an alleged bomb plot to be released from jail. The 18-year-old faces charges of belonging to and training with a terrorist organization.

July 13, 2006
A prominent member of Toronto’s Indo-Canadian Muslim community tells CBC’s The Fifth Estate he worked as an informant in the bomb plot investigation. Mubin Shaikh, who calls himself an “observant Muslim,” said he was a paid undercover informant for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service for more than two years, working much of that time with the suspects in the alleged bomb plot.

June 27, 2006
The two youngest people charged in connection with the alleged bomb plot — a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old who was 17 at the time of arrest — are denied bail by a justice of the peace in a Brampton, Ont. courtroom.

June 26, 2006
Nine of the suspects appear in a Brampton, Ont. court to set future court appearances. Two others appear via video link.

June 12, 2006
A justice of the peace imposes a publication ban on the proceedings against the suspects in the alleged bomb plot. Lawyers for some of the suspects speak out against the ban. Lawyer Rocco Galati says he will appeal the ban on the grounds that it’s unfairbecause of thedamaging allegationsthat have been made in publicagainst his clients.

The lawyers also claim that their clients are being mistreated. Galati says the accused are being kept in rooms that are lit 24 hours a day and have been denied access to the outdoors for the first five days. They are fed through a slot in the door, he says, and their food is taken away after five minutes.

David Kolinsky, a lawyer representing Zakaria Amara, says his client laughed when a guard touched his ribs while searching him. Kolinsky claims the guard then pinned his client down, drilled his finger into his cheek and said “Is this funny?”

June 10, 2006
Muslim leaders in Toronto meet privately with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss their concerns about an anti-Muslim backlash after the arrests.

Muslims representing about 30 mosques in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec call for a zero-tolerance policy in mosques and community centres against preaching “any form of hatred or intolerance.”

June 9, 2006
Court documents made available to CBC News indicate that CSIS and RCMP agents have been watching the group since January 2006. The documents mention intercepted telephone conversations, observations of suspects brandishing semi-automatic weapons, and the contents of a note in one of the suspect’s luggage during a flight from Pakistan to Canada in March this year.

June 8, 2006
Sayyid Ahmed Amiruddin, a Muslim religious leader in Toronto, says he knows some of the bomb plot suspects and witnessed them change to become radicalized introverts.

June 7, 2006
The Toronto Star reports that suspect Steven Chand had been a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada, a reserve unit, and that he had received weapons training. The military says he spent most of his time in the Canadian Forces on leave of absence.

June 6, 2006
Lawyer Gary Batasar, who represents suspect Steven Chand, says his client is accused of planning to storm Parliament, behead the prime minister and attack a number of sites, including CBC headquarters in Toronto.

Defence lawyers for the accused say they haven’t had enough time to prepare and haven’t seen the evidence against their clients. They ask that bail hearings for their clients be postponed and most are rescheduled to June 12.

June 5, 2006
The charges against the 17 suspects are made public. All face charges under the Anti-terrorism Act and six face explosives charges.

RCMP assistant commissioner Mike McDonell tells CBC News the investigation is not over and more charges and arrests could follow.

June 4, 2006
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praises the arrests in Toronto. “It is obviously a very great success for the Canadian counter-terrorism efforts, which have been very robust,” she says. Other American officials criticize Canada for lax immigration rules and border security.

A mosque in Toronto is vandalized overnight. The mosque’s glass entrance and 28 large windows are broken.

June 3, 2006
Law enforcement officials name the 17 people they have accused in the case and say they are “adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda.”

The 15 men arrested in Toronto and Mississauga appear in court and are remanded into police custody. They are scheduled to have bail hearings June 6.

June 2, 2006
More than a dozen teams of police officers — as many as 400 officers and security officers in all — raid homes in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont. and arrest 10 men and five youths. Two other suspects are already incarcerated in Kingston.

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